Shai Hope registered the third quickest half-century in T20Is as the Windies thrashed hosts Bangladesh by eight wickets in the first of the three-match series at Sylhet on Monday.
Hope smashed a 16-ball fifty for the visitors who chased down Bangladesh’s total of 129 with 55 deliveries to spare to take a 1-0 lead in the series.
Having elected to bat first, Bangladesh’s innings never got going in the series opener despite a 43-ball 61 from skipper Shakib Al Hasan.
Windies pacer Sheldon Cottrell picked up career-best figures of 4-28 including the early wickets of Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal and Saumya Sarkar. The short ball paid dividends for the tourists’ pacers with both Tamim and Sarkar falling prey to it alongside Liton Das who miscued a pull shot off Oshane Thomas.
When Mushfiqur Rahim was run-out by a Rovman Powell direct hit, Bangladesh were reduced to 48-4. Shakib batted valiantly for the hosts but he didn’t get enough support from the other end. The star all-rounder’s stay at the crease was ended by Cottrell who caught him off his own bowling to complete his career-best haul.
The short-ball worked wonders for Cottrell.
In reply, the visitors got off to a flying start with Hope pulverising the Bangladesh attack with a stunning assault. The wicketkeeper-batsman struck six sixes and three boundaries in his 23-ball stay at the crease which fetched 55 runs.
Hope’s innings helped the Windies collect 91 runs in the powerplay before he was dismissed by Mustafizur Rahman. Nicholas Pooran (23) and Keemo Paul (28) kept up the attack following Hope’s departure to take the visitors to victory inside just 11 overs to silence the home crowd.
Bangladesh skipper Shakib lamented his team’s failure to put enough runs on the board on a good batting track.
“Everything (failed) apart from the toss. Batting failed and then the bowling also obviously went wrong,” Shakib was quoted as saying by AFP following the result.
“It was a good pitch, should have probably got about 180 on the board.”
Windies skipper Carlos Brathwaite was delighted with the win but maintained that the job was not yet done for the reigning World T20 champions.
“Very good win but it’s only one game. We have started with a win before and then gone on to lose the series in recent times. So, it’s important to be respectful of the opposition,” he stated.
The second and third matches of the series will take place in Dhaka on December 20 and 22 respectively.
